Turkey’s attempts to disrupt NATO and UN-led peacekeeping activities is deplorable, Spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anna Naghdalyan told a press conference today.
The comments come after Der Spiegel’s report saying Turkey denied airspace to a German military plane en-route to Armenia.
According to the source, the plane was to pick up Armenian peacekeepers, who were due to be trained in Germany ahead of peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.
“As far as I’m informed the Ministry of Defense has not refuted this information,” Naghdalyan told reporters.
“It’s deplorable that Turkey is already obstructing the peacekeeping activities within the framework of NATO and UN because of its anti-Armenian stance,” she added.
The Spokesperson noted that Armenia has raised the issue with international partners through diplomatic channels.
According to Der Spiegel’s information, Turkish air traffic controllers, without explanation, refused to allow the Bundeswehr aircraft to fly via the country’s airspace, forcing the Airbus 310 to return to its base in Cologne.
As a result, the German Air Force had to choose a much longer flight route over Russia in mid-August to transport the soldiers.
According to Spiegel, the German military sees the incident as a deliberate provocation of Ankara.